My wedding venue manager said he would give us a 5% discount if we paid in cash. I think the problem with that might be that is even though it is our money the bank has to report to the IRS anything over 10,000 dollars. I read that the IRS can come calling to ask us why we might need so much cash. Am I right or wrong? And if that is true then the venue owner could be on the hook. Seeing that we could save 750 dollars I am wondering if this is worth the aggravation or just pay with check or credit card.

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IANAL, AFAIK you are free to withdraw as much cash as you want, with no restriction. Transactions $10K and above are reported to the US Treasury, and they have the right to ask what you did with the cash.

Your biggest exposure is the cash itself - losing it, getting held up, etc. If there is tax evasion by the venue owner, if you are not aware, you are not liable. If you are accused of tax fraud conspiracy, however, the cash can be help while you prove otherwise.

Also note, police in many jurisdictions look at large amounts of cash as indications of involvement in drug trade and commonly take and keep the cash without pressing charges. This is with the support of the DOJ.

Yes, bank will fill out CTR form. Chances are slim that IRS will follow up with question. It's purpose is for money laundering and usually only for repeat offenders. However that should be least of your worries. Paying cash for that large of a purchase would worry me more, you have no recourse.

If the IRS asks then just tell the truth. You did nothing wrong.
I've taken out and deposited over $10k in cash and certified check a few times. No one asked anything.
I would not pay the venue the whole bill up front though. Things can go wrong and you may need some negotiating leverage.

__________________“No, not rich. I am a poor man with money, which is not the same thing"

1. The hassle of withdrawing and accounting for cash when the amount exceeds $9,999.99.
2. The (albeit slight) risk of transporting large amounts of cash.
3. The concern I could be assisting the recipient in evading income reporting.

Yes, the transaction will be reported to the IRS if you withdraw more than $10K in cash. However, it is perfectly legal to take your own money out of your own account in any amount and hand it to another person to pay for a purchase. The IRS is looking for patterns of behavior that could indicate money laundering. A one-time cash withdrawal is not a pattern.

In the extremely unlikely event that the IRS asks you anything about this perfectly legal transaction, you would just show them the contract you have for the wedding venue and the receipt you got when handing over the cash. If the wedding venue manager is doing some shady thing where he doesn't report cash as income, then that is his problem with the IRS, not yours.

All that said, I second MichaelB's guess that in this case "cash" means "check", and that is the payment method that the venue would prefer. Many businesses use "cash" to mean "not a credit card", and they give the same discount when paying by check.

Just was curious as to if there was any upside to this. I believe now there isn't. Now I am thinking just a check. Of course if I put it on a credit card I could have some recourse if some things were not delivered as per contract. I guess the saying is...Cash is Trash...in more ways than one.

When DD was married in 2006 none of the vendors took anything but cash in the form of a check, first in a significant deposit and the balance due the day of the wedding. The discount for the OP probably is equal to what the CC vendor fee would be? If it’s a discount for only cold hard cash, not a check, that is intriguing and probably a tax dodge imo?

__________________“Would you like an adventure now, or would you like to have your tea first?” J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan

Our DD's wedding caterer asked for cash, but that included a check, as long as the bank was local and could be drawn quickly. Their business was small and they didn't have the cash to pay their vendors.

Many small and local businesses prefer checks to credit cards, because of the fees and the delay in getting paid. Requiring bills, though, is different, and it is not as easy to see a legitimate need for this option.

IANAL,
Also note, police in many jurisdictions look at large amounts of cash as indications of involvement in drug trade and commonly take and keep the cash without pressing charges. This is with the support of the DOJ.

I'm so old I remember when we had a 4th amendment.
Laws like this irk me to no end, and are why I do not just rollover when the police ask questions. Don't tell a cop you have money. I've read where even a couple hundred dollars were taken from travelers as suspicious.

Part 2 of why not to talk to cops, by a cop.
https://youtu.be/08fZQWjDVKE

FIRE in 2031 @ 50yrs old (+/- 2yrs) w/ a hypothetical $2.5mil portfolio, 3 appreciated homes worth $1.0mil and rental income to fund my gap years until RMD. Assets will go to an inherited IRA where I plan on watching the investments grow until I die or the trust gets executed.

And a pro-tip for photographers. I feel like there should be a clause that all photographers get half down and final payment upon edited photos delivered.

It took our guy a year to deliver the edited photos. Man if I could do that over. I actually had to fly back to the island we got married, and hunt down the wedding planner and photographer, and threaten legal action, but finally got the RAW images.

FIRE in 2031 @ 50yrs old (+/- 2yrs) w/ a hypothetical $2.5mil portfolio, 3 appreciated homes worth $1.0mil and rental income to fund my gap years until RMD. Assets will go to an inherited IRA where I plan on watching the investments grow until I die or the trust gets executed.

I would be concerned that there is no record of how much you paid. What if the venue later claims you did not pay, or they dispute the amount that you paid? How would you prove that you gave them $15,000 in cash and not $14,000 or some other amount? A receipt is good, but not good enough for me, I want direct proof of the amount of money that was transferred from my bank account to theirs. I would be willing to give them a check in exchange for a discount, but not cash.

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